Strava Segments: Understanding Hidden Segments, Privacy, Safety, and Data Integrity

Why are Strava segments hidden?

Strava segments may be hidden due to a combination of user-controlled privacy settings, segment creator choices, Strava's safety and data integrity policies, and automated system flagging to ensure a fair and secure experience for all athletes.

Understanding Strava's Segment Philosophy

Strava segments are a cornerstone of the platform, transforming ordinary routes into dynamic, competitive challenges. By allowing users to compare their performance over specific sections of road or trail, segments foster a unique blend of community, motivation, and friendly competition. However, this competitive environment must be carefully balanced with critical considerations for user privacy, safety, and data integrity. The decision to hide certain segments is not arbitrary but is rooted in a comprehensive strategy to uphold these core principles.

Primary Reasons for Hidden Segments

The reasons behind a segment being hidden are multifaceted, encompassing both individual user preferences and broader platform policies designed for the collective good.

User Privacy Settings

One of the most common reasons a segment may appear "hidden" to you is directly related to the privacy settings of the athletes whose activities traverse that segment.

• Private Activities: If an athlete marks their entire activity as "Private," their data, including their performance on any segments within that activity, will not appear on public leaderboards. While the segment itself might be public, their specific effort on it remains concealed.
• Enhanced Privacy Zones: Strava allows users to set "Privacy Zones" around sensitive locations, such as their home or workplace. Any activity that starts or ends within these zones will have the initial or final portion of the activity, including any segments within that zone, automatically trimmed or made private, preventing precise location disclosure.
• "Hide from Leaderboards" Setting: Athletes can specifically choose to hide their activities from all public segment leaderboards, even if their activity is otherwise public. This offers a granular level of control over their competitive visibility.

Segment Creator Intent

The individual who creates a segment has the option to designate it as private.

• Private Segments: A segment creator can choose to make their segment private, meaning it will only be visible and accessible to them. This is often done for personal training analysis, testing new routes, or for segments on private property where public access is not desired.

Safety and Risk Mitigation

Strava actively works to prevent segment-related incidents and discourage dangerous behavior. Segments can be hidden or flagged for safety reasons.

• Hazardous Segments Policy: Strava has a policy against segments that are inherently dangerous, such as those on busy highways, active construction sites, or areas with high traffic volume and limited visibility. Users can report such segments, and Strava may hide or remove them following review.
• Segments on Private Property: To respect property rights and prevent trespassing, segments created on private land without explicit permission may be hidden or removed.
• Discouraging Dangerous Behavior: The competitive nature of segments can sometimes encourage users to take unnecessary risks. Hiding segments in high-risk areas aims to mitigate this.

Data Integrity and Fair Play

To maintain the integrity of segment leaderboards and ensure fair competition, Strava employs measures to address data anomalies and prevent abuse.

• Preventing "Cheating" or Unfair Advantages: While not directly "hiding" a segment, Strava's algorithms may flag or remove efforts that appear to be generated by non-human means (e.g., driving, GPS manipulation), thus effectively hiding those specific results from the leaderboard.
• Addressing GPS Inaccuracies: In areas with poor GPS signal or significant "GPS drift," segments might become problematic, leading to inaccurate times. While not typically hidden for this reason, repeated issues could lead to a segment being reviewed.
• Moderation and Quality Control: Strava's community and internal teams review reported segments. If a segment is poorly defined, overlaps inappropriately, or is otherwise problematic, it may be hidden or edited.

Automatic System Flagging

Strava's automated systems also play a role in identifying and potentially hiding segments based on certain criteria.

• Very Short or Redundant Segments: Segments that are extremely short or too similar to existing segments might be automatically hidden or merged to reduce clutter and improve the user experience.
• Segments Overlapping Private Zones: As mentioned, if a segment significantly overlaps with a user's designated privacy zone, parts of it (or the entire segment for that user) may be obscured.
• Unusual Data Patterns: While less common for hiding an entire segment, unusual activity patterns on a segment can trigger reviews that might lead to its eventual hiding if it's deemed problematic.

Implications for Athletes and Data Analysis

For athletes, hidden segments mean that the full scope of competitive data might not always be visible. This is an important consideration for training analysis and understanding leaderboards.

• Incomplete Leaderboards: You may notice that a segment's leaderboard doesn't include every athlete you know has ridden it, especially if they have stricter privacy settings.
• Focus on Personal Progress: The presence of hidden segments reinforces the idea that while competition is fun, personal progress and consistency remain the primary metrics for individual fitness.
• Respect for Privacy: It underscores the importance of respecting others' choices regarding their data visibility.

How to Navigate Hidden Segments

While you cannot force a hidden segment to become public, understanding the reasons behind it helps in navigating the platform effectively.

• Check Your Own Privacy Settings: Ensure your own activities are visible on leaderboards if you wish to participate in segment competition. Review your privacy zones and "Hide from Leaderboards" settings.
• Respect Others' Settings: Understand that an athlete's absence from a leaderboard is likely a deliberate privacy choice.
• Report Hazardous Segments: If you encounter a public segment that you believe is genuinely dangerous or on private property, use Strava's reporting tools to flag it for review.
• Create Your Own Private Segments: If you want to track your performance on a specific section without making it public, you can create a private segment for your personal use.

Conclusion: A Balanced Approach to Digital Competition

The practice of hiding Strava segments is a crucial component of the platform's commitment to user privacy, safety, and data integrity. It reflects a sophisticated balance between fostering a vibrant competitive community and ensuring responsible data management. For athletes, understanding these underlying principles enhances their Strava experience, promoting a more respectful and secure environment for digital competition and performance tracking.